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“Today we will start evaluating your suitability for the various roles. We will start simply by having you fight one of our instructors. The instructors will naturally hold back, as we’re only trying to get a better handle on your talents.” Instructor Ku Fei explained. “You can pick from the training weapons on the racks, or you can fight unarmed if that’s your thing.”
Seraphiel walked up to the racks and picked a simple heater shield and longsword combo. As she watched the students being split apart, she noted that the martial arts focused students were guided to Ku Fei, standard sword and spear wielding people with Setsuna, and those with a shield or some exotic weapon were directed to Mana. The third instructor, and the one she’d met when Raziel had enrolled, had apparently returned from her mission not too long ago.
If what she’d known of the three instructors from before still held true, Ku Fei was a full martial artist herself, while Setsuna was actually a Shinmei-ryū sword master that could use a variety of weapons. Mana, or Captain as she was often called, excelled in guns, but her talents were wide enough that she could fight with almost anything. Mana had taken part in a martial arts tournament with coins as her only weapon, and she'd been pretty close to taking out Ku Fei in that tournament, without using any of her more supernatural abilities.
Seraphiel took her place among the students with Mana and was amused to note that the instructor hadn’t changed all that much. She still fought the students just by flipping coins at them at high speeds. In fact, the coins came with such speed and ferocity that most students only lasted a few moments before being taken out.
As Seraphiel’s turn came, the instructor seemed to recognize her. “I see you did end up enrolling.” The tall woman commented simply.
“I did. Good to see you again Miss Tatsumiya.” She activated both Fortify and Psionic Infusion, causing a psionic field to surround her and her weapons. “Ready when you are.”
"I hope you will not disappoint," Mana stated and the coins started flying in hard and fast.
Seraphiel wasn’t foolish enough to stand still as she steadily moved in erratic patterns with Hohō while protecting her front with the shield. Her Danger Sense was also fully active, and it screamed several warnings at her, helping her avoid attacks aimed at her exposed legs, her ‘Graceful’ footwork allowing her to avoid direct hits. Some of the coins grazed her as she got closer, but her higher than normal Vitality allowed her to tank any indirect hits.
The objective of this bout wasn’t to defeat the instructor, as that was impossible. Instead, it was all about how close she could get. At every step she took closer, the strength at which the coins hit her shield became harder, not quite yet enough to push her back. After passing some invisible line, the coins no longer came at her directly and started being reinforced by Skills, arcing at her from different sides like guided projectiles. Some she slashed down with her sword, her ability to cut techniques coming in handy, while some she had to stop with a hastily erected angled barrier, barely strong enough to alter the path of the coins enough to cause them to miss. She was quickly reaching the limit of her Tolerance as she had to erect continuous barriers.
She had wanted to end things with a Psionic Charge, but she no longer had the Tolerance for it without seriously overheating, which wasn’t the point of the exercise. Instead, she allowed a couple of the coins to hit her, most likely leaving painful bruises, as she sent a Destructor at the instructor. Of course, the technique didn’t have enough power to hurt the woman, but at least she had to show she was capable of attacking. The attack apparently caught Mana slightly by surprise, which allowed her to also send the psionic energy infused in her blade at her in the shape of a scything blade. Mana of course dispersed the attack with a simple wave of her hand, but now there was a look of interest in her eyes.
"Enough." The instructor called. "Well done. Your defensive capabilities are clearly above the norm, and I detected at least four techniques to that effect. Your barriers were well placed, and you could deploy them decently quick, though their defensive power needs a bit of work. How's your ability to protect others?"
“Still a bit limited. I can use the barriers, and I can extend one of the defensive Skills I used to them as well. That said, I’m much more effective at protecting myself.” She revealed. What she’d shown was the extent of what she’d managed to recover in the last few months.
“Hmm, you have the makings of an excellent defender, though it would be even better if your second Class was something like a Paladin that focused on defending others. Or at least some supportive Skills to make your barriers stronger. That said, you have enough offensive bite that any target can’t afford to ignore you. A combination of a striker and a defender then. And I suspect you weren’t able to show off all your Skills. Good. We have some things to work with. Next!” The instructor moved on.
As she walked back to the others, she brought up her announcements, which she’d turned off to not be distracted.
[Congratulations! [Shiten Kekkai] has leveled up 6 --> 7!]
[Congratulations! [Danger Sense] has leveled up 8 --> 9!]
[Congratulations! [Fortify] has leveled up 9 --> 10!]
[Congratulations! [Psionic Infusion] has leveled up 9 --> 10!]
[Congratulations! [Path of the Seer] has leveled up 10 --> 11! Free Stat Points +60.]
[Congratulations! [Celestial] has leveled up 10 --> 11! Strength +10, Vitality +10, Agility +10, Perception +10, Charisma +10, Willpower +10, Manipulation +10, Acumen +10, Free Stat Points +20.]
Yeah, even just sparring with someone who could push her was much more useful than training by herself. Not a big surprise there. Gaining levels was about doing activities associated with your Class, but danger and actual challenge made any training much faster and more effective. Hopefully, she'd get more chances to spar with the instructors. In fact…
As she glanced at the other students, she wasn’t very impressed. Yes, these were the best prospective students with the best grades and Classes, as only the best were accepted to the academies. However, they were all also children, and most of them had unlocked their first Class less than half a year ago. They may have gotten some training even before their System Day, but it was doubtful any of them had the level of training she considered rigorous, and none of them had real training with their Skills. To put it simply, they were all a bunch of newbies, barely better than someone who was swinging their weapon for the first time. There were a couple of exceptions like her, but those were really the exception and not the standard. It would be unfair to expect much more from children, even if gifted ones.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
She returned the shield and sword to the racks and picked up a spear, before getting into the line in front of Instructor Setsuna. The line was somewhat shorter at this point, and judging by their exchanged glances, the instructors noticed what she’d done. They didn’t say anything though. It took much longer for her turn to arrive as she was essentially the last one to be tested. It took over an hour for Setsuna to work her way through the line before it was finally Seraphiel’s turn.
The two squared off wordlessly, Seraphiel holding her spear in a relaxed stance. She had to be a little careful here. Setsuna would obviously recognize the Shinmei-ryū elements in her style, which is why she’d picked the spear. It wasn’t that the style couldn’t be used with a spear, just that the influences were less obvious. Her Danger Sense suddenly screamed at her, and she shifted to the side as Setsuna’s blade slashed through the spot where she’d been standing moments before.
Now, most people believe that the spear is the superior weapon because of its reach, and that’s not untrue even if incomplete. Those fighting against bad spear users believe that they have the advantage once they get close enough, but that was just wrong. Even most spear users forget that the spear has two heads and can be used essentially like a quarterstaff as well, and quarterstaffs had no trouble dealing with close-range opponents.
She spun the spear around like a staff, pushing the instructor’s blade further away from her body, while the pointed end of her spear slashed towards Setsuna’s face. The instructor managed to evade the attack rather easily by taking a bit of distance to the side, but that widened the gap between them again, allowing Seraphiel to grab her weapon and wield it like a spear again, sending quick jabs towards her enemy, which were deflected with minimal movements by the instructor’s relatively large blade.
The two danced around each other, just testing their basic skill with the weapon, without finding any real holes in the opponent’s defence. Seraphiel had expected as much, and once again wasn’t really even aiming for a victory. She was simply making a point and training. Slowly, Setsuna started exerting more of her statistical advantage, at which point Seraphiel had to rely more on her Hohō to keep her safe. She could tell that any attack that the instructor landed would cut right through her defences, as she too could use the Zanmaken technique, and her Skill level was definitely higher.
“Anything else to show me?” Setsuna asked as they separated for a moment. The two had fought for several minutes already, much longer than any previous bouts the woman had had.
“Just one. Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" She quickly chanted the Kidō spell and an orange-hued tendril with spiraling yellow patterns appeared to surround Setsuna, at least theoretically ensnaring her. Of course, she had the strength to break out with a thought, but the idea was just to display the ability. She also sent a fully powered Destructor at the instructor, which predictably did nothing due to Setsuna's high Vitality.
"That wasn't too bad," Setsuna stated, suddenly appearing behind her. "Really shows off your flexibility, which I assume was your intent. And you're obviously aware of the failings. Those being the fact that it didn't work on someone so much higher level, and the time it took you to cast that thing. Didn't recognize the technique either. Interesting." Just to make a point, she used the side of her practice blade to give Seraphiel's unprotected back a small smack to indicate a clean hit.
[Congratulations! [Kidō] has leveled up 8 --> 9!]
[Congratulations! [Destructor] has leveled up 7 --> 8!]
[Congratulations! [Weapon Arts] has leveled up 10 --> 11!]
"Well, now I feel a little left out." Ku Fei complained. “Unless…”
“I wouldn’t dream of leaving you out Instructor.” Seraphiel smiled a bit before using her telekinesis to send her spear to the rack as she squared off in a martial arts stance against the third instructor as well.
Ku Fei grinned eagerly before both of them used mobility techniques to close the distance. As their attacks collided, Seraphiel was happy that her Psionic Infusion and Fortify worked with her fists and hooves as well. Even still, the only reason the instructor’s attacks were not breaking her defence straight away was that she was successfully using martial arts that guided most of the power behind the attacks away from her. Ku Fei was so much stronger and faster than her that there was no way to take any of the attacks directly or even go on offense as she had to focus on minimal movements to gently guide the focal point of Ku Fei’s attacks away from her. And unlike the other two instructors, Ku Fei didn’t bother starting slowly, instead getting straight into it. She wasn’t using full power of course, but she didn’t bother starting slowly as she’d seen Seraphiel deal with Setsuna’s speed.
Danger Sense warned her multiple times of attacks that were just too fast for her to see. Normally she favoured a fighting style that was as steady as a mountain and implacable in its steady advance, but now she had to flow like a river as she simply didn’t have the Vitality to take any of the attacks directly. She barely managed to earn a few opportunities to attack by using her illusions and a bit of telekinesis, neither of which were strong enough to work more than a fraction of a second. The couple of Destructors she sent at Ku Fei were completely useless, and the only reason she even used them was to show that she could.
[Congratulations! [Shinmei-ryū Kamigoroshi] has leveled up 10 --> 11! Strength +5, Vitality +5, Agility +10, Perception +10, Psionic Power +5, Psionic Control +10, Tolerance +5, Psi +5, Free Stat Points: +25]
[Congratulations! [Martial Arts] has leveled up 10 --> 11!]
[Congratulations! [Hohō] has leveled up 10 --> 11!]
[Congratulations! [Combat Illusion] has leveled up 7 --> 8!]
[Congratulations! [Danger Sense] has leveled up 9 --> 10!]
Their fight came to a quick end as the instructor got a clean hit in, though the effects were a lot less embarrassing than they would’ve been without her boost to Vitality. “Wow, you really can take a hit. Not bad for someone who clearly has a Class that isn’t directly aimed at martial arts. Still, you’ve made your point.” Ku Fei grinned widely.
Seraphiel brought her fists together and made a small bow to acknowledge the feedback. Her performance had clearly impressed everyone watching. She’d been defeated three times, but she’d performed much better than anyone else against all three instructors, showing off her flexibility.
"Alright! You all did well. As a reward, we'll only do a single run around academy grounds today instead of the usual. Get moving." Setsuna ordered, causing everyone to groan in frustration. Apparently, the instructors were still not happy with everyone's stamina.
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"Well, that was something," Setsuna commented as the three instructors and friends were finally alone.
“Quite.” Ku Fei agreed with a nod. “She wasn’t making it obvious, but she managed to keep up with both of us for a lot longer than she should’ve with pure skill alone.” She chuckled a bit. “Though it was obvious she wasn’t quite used to her current form. Her hooves kept messing with her kicks.”
“So, an Angel in disguise?” Mana confirmed and the other two nodded. “Makes sense as almost a third of the Draenei are. The more interesting question is…”
"A rebirth of some sort, or a Champion that was born as a child somehow?" Setsuna summarized. "It's obvious someone her age couldn't have the level of skill she has. In fact, her skills were much beyond her Skill, if you catch my meaning."
“Hmm, haven’t heard of a Champion being born as a child. Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Waiting for them to grow both in age and power would leave the god vulnerable. Light already has a Champion as well, right?” Ku Fei posited.
“A rather good one at that, though not top tier. Last I heard anyway.” Mana provided. Her mercenary work brought her into frequent contact with all sorts of information.
“I’m not all that familiar with such magic, but I’d imagine a high-level Soul mage might be able to arrange something like this.” Setsuna pointed out. “She’s not a mage though. Why would a Soul mage reincarnate themselves, and then not become a mage to utilize their knowledge?”
“I’m also fairly sure she used some Shinmei-ryū techniques while fighting me," Mana added. "It could've been something else, so I'm not certain."
“Her Class is psionic though, so can’t be Shinmei-ryū.” Setsuna knew better than most the impossibility of that. “Could be something similar of course.”
“She’s a real conundrum, that’s for sure. Will keep things interesting.” Ku Fei wasn’t too bothered. This universe had all sorts of anomalies and monsters, and the three of them had fought many such threats.
"We might want to inform Evangeline," Mana stated suddenly after a moment of hesitation.
“You assume she isn’t already aware.” Setsuna retorted.
"It's not about whether she's aware or not. She's the headmaster. We should inform her anyway." Mana held her ground.